I ran away from teaching to the country to grow veggies. There are also some chooks and a pair of troublesome goats who were so much trouble they had to go! My simple green life isn't always as simple or as green as I'd like...but I keep trying!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Sexy plants

I was going to write another post about the cleverness of plants. You know how some plants, like pumpkins, squash and these zucchini have male and female flowers? About how corn has a showy male appendage on the top and silky girly tassels on the cobs and how pollen falls from the boy bits to the girl bits. I took these photos to illustrate the post...but they are just so darn sexy I have decided to let them do the talking (well most of it).

Boy zucchini flowers even have a little penis.. When I pointed this out to my six year old grandson the other day
he laughed and laughed and laughed - as only a boy of that age can when his Grandma says a 'rude' word. He
just kept say, 'You said penis! guffaw, guffaw, guffaw' over and over.

Girl flowers have curly 'come hither' bits.

Both have tiny hairs that grow towards their sexy bits...no doubt to make the trip into the flower easier for the insect pollinators.

For the record I have planted two kiwi fruit vines. Kiwi fruit have a plant for each sex. This is the girl vine. Apparently the male vines have a 'more vigorous' growth habit. Typical, the woman does all the labour, producing and the bloke gets to flex his muscles and boast to his mates. If he does his job really well next year maybe I will let him break out the cigars.

11 comments:

How wonderful ... the narrative and the photos! Lol ... I can just imagine your grandson's reaction ... my 6-year old granddaughter on the other hand would just die a million deaths if I whispered that word!

Loving the new look to your blog, too. That background shot on the header is just great!

We have just dug out our three Kiwi fruit plants.The position they were growing in did not get full sun all day, and consequently here in North Tasmania they did not ripen sufficiently. Their growth was rampant and although we had constructed a solid arch for them to ramble over it needed to be bigger. The male plant is particularly virile and can easily overwhelm a single girl. As our energies are limited and keeping such a plant in check can be time-consuming, I am not sure we will replace our plants in a new position. I wish you very good luck with yours.

thanks Willo. I have planted them in a north facing position and plant to make a sturdy structure for them to grow on. If there is one thing I have it is time. So I will heed your warning about the virility of the male kiwi fruit. Should I use secateurs or a cold spoon?